that political analysts believe that we will go over the"fiscalcliff." sobynextweekcould you start seeing your grocery store bills skyrocket and your paychecks plummet. the president is inding his hawaii have a -- ending his hawaii vacation early and returning tonight. >> wonderful to see all of you. merry christmas to everybody. >> reporter: congress is also coming back from a winter break tomorrow. and time is ticking down on the "fiscal cliff" clock. >> not likely to make a deal before the 1st. >> reporter: cbs 5 political analyst joe tuman says this is washington politics at its worst. >> the only thing that's going to force both sides to negotiate is going over the deadline. people will vote for it. they will be able to say exactly the opposite. >> reporter: in the meantime, consumers suffer. that's because we're about to take the plunge off the dairy cliff. a farm bill expires at the end of the year meaning the government reverts back to the 63-year-old pricing formula for milk and those costs are passed to you. nogallon of milk is about $3.50

nextguestsaysoncethefiscalcliffmessis resolved, there will be an explosion of mergers and acquisitions in 2013. he's robert profusek, chairman of the global m&a practice at jones day. so bob why you are so up beat about more mergers and being a acquisitions especially with everything going on with the fiscal cliff. >> it's a pessimistic time andthat is a cause for optimism in the merger market. m & a has been fantastic. 9 market has been okay. it's not been at the terrible but it's been good. it's been held back by the negativism that was focused on the eu and this year it's the fiscal cliff and the election and everything else. the conditions are there. we need more m. & a in this cup. >> you are saying they are notgoing to be the big blocks about atblocksblockbustermega deals but the small to medium companies why is that. >> to do a step out deal therehas to be animal instincts the sense that things are good. m & a needs to be done. growth is throw slow and one of the ways to rise is to buy. everything is good but we have been held back by the negativism by the fisca

were so close tothefiscalcliffdeadline.>> glor: nancy cordes, thank you. major garrett has been following developments at the white house. major, what is the president's next move? >> reporter: it is not a breakthrough but it is a glimmer of hope. officials tell cbs news the president will meet with harry reid, mitch, house speaker john boehner, democratic leader nancy pelosi tomorrow afternoon at the white house. to try to find out if there is a way to avert the fiscal cliff. today, after the president returned from his vacation in hawaii, he did meet with his senior advisors. they did conduct some back- channel negotiations as they have been during the holidays on a bill to possibly avert the fiscal cliff. those talks i'm told did not make much progress. the face-to-face conversations may fact create the possibility of a breakthrough. but right now the president has no new proposals to give his congressional leaders. he will stick with what he told the nation on friday-- raise income taxes for households earning more than $250,000, extend unemployment benefits for those americ

. >> reporter: at stake, $154 billion in federal farm aid and isop insurance, sidelined bythefiscalcliffstalemate.benefits from the farm bill also guarantee rice farmer l.g. ronn that his costs are covered when crops are bad or demand drops. you'd be out of it if there was no subsidies? >> i will be looking for another job, absolutely. >> reporter: you just can't make enough money to make a go of it? >> those risks are too great. i could lose it all. if the market... if i plant rice and the market price is $12, and the next four months, it goes down to $6, i've lost a million dollars during that time period. i can't sustain that. e m broke in one year. r. reporter: the farm bill impacts much more than rural america. 80% of the bill's $1 trillion in spending covers food stamps, school lunches, forest conservation, and renewable fuels. >> we're sitting right here in limbo waiting on our lame duck congress to see if actually they will take up and reauthorize the new farm bill. >> reporter: he needs answers soon. the planting season is weeks anna. anna warner, cbs news, eagle lake, texas.